Tag: Australia

International Freight Industry to shift from air transport to sea and rail

Posted by | Jul 15, 2008 | |

Australia Post’s Managing Director, Graeme John, foresees cutbacks on flights and a shift towards sea and rail deliveries with regard to the annual meeting of the Kahala Posts Group last week.

John said that growth in international freight from consumer goods such as electronics had been managed on a “just in time” basis, with air delivery preferred to other means of transport due to its speed advantage. But that approach was no longer viable as global warming would have an enormous influence on the postal industry worldwide increasing the pressure to shift towards less environmentally-damaging modes of delivery.

The Kahala Posts Group (KPG) which is the alliance of nine national postal administrations in Australia, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Spain, France and Britain, was founded five years ago and named after a resort the members stayed at during their founding meeting in Hawaii. The postal operators have since launched an upgraded, guarantee-based international service between their respective countries and territories.

Therefore, Kahala Group focused instead on reliability of delivery. But to keep the reliability of the service, the Kahala members had to upgrade their tracking systems. It also required the creation of a “delivery calculator”, a database of eight billion postcodes that allows a customer to walk into any postal outlet, list their destination and be told a precise time window during which a parcel would be delivered, Brisbane Times further reported.

While the private couriers already offered that service and faster delivery, the Kahala members undercut their prices by 40 pct to 50 pct to stay competitive in price.

John further said that a worsening economic environment could prompt a trend to slower “deferred” delivery services.

The Kahala partnership is also moving beyond postage, with Australia Post, China Post and the US Postal Service preparing to launch a group-owned money transfer service to compete against Western Union, Brisbane Times added.

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European Parcels Market: Price Pressure Eclipses Growth through Internet Trade

Posted by | Jun 26, 2008 | |

After several years of strong sales growth for courier, express and parcel (CEP) services, in the coming years the figures in Europe are expected to slip back. Average annual growth in revenues in international CEP markets, for example, will decline from 8.6 percent today to 6.6 percent in 2010. The almost constant growth in transport volume resulting from steadily rising internet trade is being eclipsed by considerable price pressure. This is one of the conclusions from the latest study conducted by A.T. Kearney. Transport costs are being driven ever higher by the rising price of oil, and this could lead to a significant shift in the choice of means of transport in future. Although costs are rising, for highly time-critical goods such as express parcels there will be no alternative to air transport even in years to come. CEP providers need to tighten up their own market positioning and service provision profile and compensate for price pressure and increases in factor costs through strict cost management. The key challenges are the pressure to differentiate, the expansion of international networks, zonal pricing, closed supply chains and continuing consolidation.

Impacts of the high oil price on the global transport industry

For highly time-critical goods such as express parcels or spare parts, but also for high-value moisture-sensitive goods, there will still be no alternative to air transport in the future. Nevertheless, in the short and medium term opportunities to benefit from this within Europe will be available to service providers who build on a good road network, as in this case fuel costs are a considerably less weighty factor than in air transport.

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Postal Industry Launches Global Carbon Measurement System

Posted by | Jun 2, 2008 | |

The International Post Corporation (IPC) has launched an environmental measurement and monitoring system providing a common carbon measurement and reporting framework for the global postal industry.

The launch and formal adoption by IPC member postal operators including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK, took place at IPC’s Annual Conference 2008 in La Chapelle en Serval, France on 30 May. The event was attended by CEOs from Europe, the Asia-Pacific and North America.
The system provides the postal industry with a transparent, scientific, sector specific carbon management and measurement system based on the requirements of international best practice standards, such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, DJSI, FTSE4Good, ISO 14001, and current best practice from the corporate environment. The system evaluates performance through the application of a scoring system that grades performance in ten carbon management proficiency areas and in key numeric carbon efficiency indicators.

The environmental measurement and monitoring system was also built on best practice as exemplified by customers of IPC members and is highly responsive to customer requirements and interests in measuring their own carbon footprint in their value chains.

The system will be piloted in 2008, with results from the first round of measurement expected to be announced in November 2009.

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TNT builds up its Green Fleet Worldwide

Posted by | May 15, 2008 | |

TNT is doubling its effort to cut carbon emissions of its road fleet with the introduction of over 100 electric trucks in the UK, China, and Australia.

TNT Express and Smith Electric Vehicles last Monday launched in London the world’s largest fleet of zero emission electric vehicles. TNT’s new 100-strong fleet of battery-powered ‘Newton’ delivery trucks will replace diesel equivalents over the next 18 months. The 7.5 ton lorries will prevent the release of up to 1,299,000 kilograms of CO2 into the atmosphere of towns and cities in the UK each year. The first tranche of 50 trucks will operate from TNT locations in London, Basildon, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Durham, Edinburgh, Enfield, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Luton, Northampton, Oxford, Paisley, Preston, and Wolverhampton. The partnership with Smith – the world’s largest manufacturer of road-going commercial electric vehicles – follows an 18-months trial in London. TNT is looking into piloting electric vehicles in all major European cities.

Last week, TNT and Dong Feng Motor Co., China’s largest automaker and manufacturer of electric vehicles, began a trial of two battery-electric delivery vans in the city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. The trial involves two light electric vans designed, manufactured and assembled in Wuhan by Dong Feng Motor Co. It is TNT’s first zero-emissions test outside of Europe. The vans have a top speed of 80 kph (50 mph), a range of 160-200 km (100-124 miles) and can carry a one ton load.

At the end of April, TNT Express Australia introduced 10 Hino hybrid trucks, becoming the first business in Australia to start operating a fleet of diesel-electric hybrid as replacements for conventionally powered vehicles. The new trucks will reduce TNT’s greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,600 kilograms of CO2 a year per vehicle. They emit 14 percent less CO2 and 50 percent less nitrous oxides than a conventional diesel truck of equivalent size.

“Greening our road fleet is a must to achieve TNT’s quest to become the first zero emissions express and mail company,” says TNT CEO Peter Bakker. “TNT is renewing its operations to reduce their environmental impact. Examples range from greener offices and depots to electricity sourcing and innovative electric vehicles.”

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Bills an untapped marketing opportunity

Posted by | May 12, 2008 | |

It’s not all that widely recognised that customers pay greater attention to their bills than probably any other form of communication that they receive from businesses.

On face value that may sound like a negative result, but it also provides businesses with a tremendous sales and marketing opportunity. And the opportunity is one that many Australian businesses are yet to capitalise on.

Grant Stewart, managing partner of the strategic marketing agency Vectis, says that many businesses are realising the value of including targeted marketing messages on the transactional mail that they’re already sending to their customers.

“Most businesses have always viewed their transactional mail, such as bills and account statements, as quite distinct from the direct mail that they send out,” explains Grant. “But that shouldn’t be the case any more.

“This type of essential mail is an ideal medium for selling to existing customers, because we know that they actually spend time analysing the bills and accounts that they receive via the mail.

“We’re advising our clients to stop thinking of their transactional mail as just a cost and to start viewing it as an opportunity to generate revenue. When they actually see the return on investment that can be earned from a clever campaign, that’s when they start thinking of transactional mail as a serious marketing tool.”

Grant’s belief that customers pay close attention to their bills and account statements is supported by the findings of a British study from 2005 by The Henley Centre, called Beyond the Gate.

This study, which looked at how people process and prioritise their mail, found that most people dedicate an average of five minutes to reading their bills and account statements. From this, the researchers concluded that transactional mail actually provides a valuable opportunity for brand engagement – and selling.

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